Just picked these up yesterday. From my understanding they are 1st thru 5th century. king Phraates of Elymais (which is now Iran). Any other information would be great. They appear to be well struck and in great condition 15mm 3.54grams.
Cool! Yes, these are both of Frahat (Phraates) of Elymais, who ruled early-mid 2nd century AD. Elymais was a semi-independent kingdom under the much-better-known Parthians; Elymais covered an area roughly modern Khuzestan Province of Iran. Unfortunately, there is very little historical information known about Elymais, or about the kings other than their names and very approximate dates. Your left coin is catalogued as van't Haaff 14.5.1-2, and the right coin as van't Haaff 14.7.2-1. Here's a few other Elymais coins I have:
Those are indeed sharp looking! Elymais, right? Edit- aha. Yes. Thanks, @Parthicus. I often privately refer to the coins with those dot- or dash-like ornamentations on the otherwise plain reverse as "strawberries". You see, the dot-thingies remind me of the "seeds" (achenes)* on a strawberry. But don't worry, I don't call them "strawberries" in mixed company, at least until now. Just inside my own head. (*I also had no idea that those things on a strawberry were called "achenes" until just now, when I looked that up.) So what are the the dot-dash things on the coins called, and why are they there?
Interesting that the obverses are so well detailed, and the reverses are like "meh". Awesome coins, nonetheless!!
I just can’t help but wonder what that “strawberry seed” pattern represents. I wonder if there’s anybody who hasn’t been dead for 1,800 years who knows the answer to that?
Did a quick search (still not sure the mystery is solved, but): "The reverse has a figure or bust of Artemis with text around it, an eagle, or often only elongated dots (this has led numismatists to believe that the engravers didn't know Greek or copied from coins whose writing was already unintelligible)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elymais#Coinage
I bought these from a Frank Robinson fixed price sale awhile back. They are pretty cool, though I don't know much about them.
I have no idea why they issued the just dashes types but Elymais coins come in a number of styles including a few that almost have as much interest as the obverse. Most are not as well done as the portraits. Phraates / eagle Orodes I / Artemis Orodes III / anchor and dashes Orodes IV / Artemis Frank Robinson usually has a selection of the common types for reasonable prices.
I'm not sure I fully buy into that theory, but since I don't have any better idea to propose, I guess I'll just have to go along with it. It's an interesting enigma, certainly. PS- Now I'll bet at least one or two of you will look at one of those in the future, and go, "Aha! A strawberry coin!" ... assuming I'm not the only lunatic around this joint.
Yes, all of the coins shown so far in this thread are drachms, except for the last coin I posted which is a tetradrachm. The dashes found on many Elymaean reverses are normally referred to as "dashes". Pretty self-explanatory, really. As for why they used dashes: The theory @AmishJedi quotes makes some sense, but the details are more complicated. The earliest coins of Elymais do have perfectly good Greek on the reverses, and over time this starts to degrade, eventually into dashes. But at the same time we also see reverses with perfectly good Aramaic legends, and even some late decent Greek (such as 14.1 and, less readable, 15.1 and 15.2), issued at the same time as reverses with just dashes, or issues with pictorial reverses without inscription or dashes. Tl;dr version: The dashes may have started out as degraded Greek, then been carried forward as their own "type" just because it looked cool to the Elymaeans.
I reckon I can buy that. "Looks cool" is as good a reason as any, I suppose. As good as calling it a "strawberry" because it sort of looks like one, maybe. Were there even strawberries in ancient Elymais? Hmm. Ahh, the crazy tangents my mind goes off on...
My understanding is that almost nothing is known about Elymais other than it coinage. I find that fascinating. Thank God for the historians of ancient Greece and Rome (and China, India...).
@Old World Coins .......Very nicely detailed couple of coins! I have a few...Here's probably my nicest... Orodes III...van't Haaff 16.1.1-3A
